Sports'n' Such column: Volunteers a vital part of sports in Siskiyou County

Tuesday

Dec 11, 2012 at 3:04 PMDec 11, 2012 at 3:13 PM

A tradition in local sports each year is the Yreka Miners Invitational Basketball Tournament. The 58th edition was recently held on Nov. 29, 30 and Dec. 1.The tournament was a great way to kick-off both the girls and boys basketball seasons at Yreka High. A number of schools from out of the area participated. This included the school I used to cover in Crescent City, Del Norte, to schools in Oregon including Brookings-Harbor on the coast, St. Mary's of Medford and Ashland. Locally, the Weed girls team and both the Mount Shasta boys and girls squads took part.Many of these schools have been coming to the tournament for a number of years and it has become a tradition for a fair number of these schools.For the fourth year the tournament coordinator was Sheri Young.Young has been involved in local sports for awhile, including cheering on her own children, who played sports at Yreka High. While they are now adults, Young still enjoys helping out. This includes being the scorekeeper during Yreka Miner home basketball games."I love doing this for the kids," Young told me. To Young, sports is a positive outlet for local youth and is glad to do her part to help out.While Young put in a lot of time and effort to make sure the tournament ran smoothly, she was quick to point out that it is a true team effort to make something like this run well. The numerous volunteers that help with the tournament each year are invaluable. "We couldn't it without them," she said. For Young, to be part of a community that does what it can to help and assist the youth here has been great and said she is proud to participate each year.Young enjoys watching the local schools getting to compete with schools they may not normally see often and the high level of competition on display. Young said that it's also fun to help keep score at the basketball game and said she loves doing her part to help out. When asked how long she hopes to volunteer, She laughed and said, "As long as they let me do it I'll do it." I commend folks like Young who take the time to volunteer to make where they live a better place. There are a number of people in Siskiyou County who donate countless hours to work with kids in sports. They, like Young understand the tremendous benefits of having sports available for kids.When I was young, I remember how much sports meant to me and my friends and to this day I remember a number of my coaches who took the time and volunteered. When I was growing up. I took part in basketball and soccer with soccer definitely my sport. I looked forward o Saturday's in the fall when I could hang with my friends and play soccer. It kept me active and I met a lot of new friends from different schools and areas.While I briefly played in high school, I realized pretty darn quick while I was a decent player as a kid it was best to cheer my friends on from the stands. But I realized I still loved sports. And now I get to write about sports for a living. Not a bad job at all, if you ask me.So, if you see someone who volunteers their time to coach sports or volunteer to help with tournaments and other events thanked them for all they do.Giving kids a positive outlet is such an invaluable thing to strive for. So many people I have encountered over the years have talked about the positive influence sports has on kids, and on their own lives. It has been a great experience to cover sports in an area like Siskiyou County and to show the community all the positive and great things the kids and the community as a whole are doing in sports here.What I love about sports is what a great unifier it is, especially in smaller communities like the towns here in Siskiyou County. I love seeing all the people at the games supporting their teams and the passion the fans show. And here in Siskiyou County, sports is certainly something that brings people together, which is great to see.

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